Tour shows rejuvenated Troy Little Italy

Visual artist Denise Saint-Onge is shown Monday in her fine art studio at 227 4th St. in Troy, which is part of the Troy Little Italy Historic Tour on Wednesday.
Mike McMahon — mmcmahon@digitalfirstmedia.com

TROY >> Little Italy is showing off its new digs this week with a tour of restored and repurposed spaces.

Six properties in Troy’s Little Italy neighborhood, located just south of historic downtown Troy on 4th Street from Ida to Division streets, will be on display Wednesday evening as part of the Troy Little Italy Historic Tour. The tour will highlight six properties in the Troy Little Italy neighborhood that have been restored or re-purposed.

The tour will take place from 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 20. Participants will meet at 227 Fourth St. Refreshments are included. There is a suggested donation of $10, and proceeds will benefit the Troy Little Italy Neighborhood.

The tour began as an idea from Andrea Daley, vice president of the Troy Little Italy Neighborhood Association, who spent the past two years revamping 253 Fourth St., an 1847 railroad home.

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“I really thought of it when we started doing our house and just knowing how I was inspired,” Daley said. “I just know that other artists when they see this, they will just get inspired.”

The tour map also shows real estate for sale, to direct anyone who may feel so motivated to take a project on themselves.

Participating landowner and copper-engraving artist Denise Saint-Onge opened an art studio at 227 Fourth St., the starting point of the tour, in an 1870 building. In doing so, she used what the building had to offer, keeping its original features and repurposing others.

Other stops on the tour include a restored two-story home at 3 Liberty St.; an unheated storage building has been turned into a fully functioning commercial kitchen for preparing baked goods at 69 Hill St.; a one-family home designed by two Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute architects at 108 Adams St.; and a building at 274 Fourth St. in the process of becoming an art gallery.

The tour is representative of what others are doing, and what Little Italy residents hope will continue.

“Really what’s happening throughout the city is revitalization and new development,” Troy Mayor Lou Rosamilia said at a press conference Monday morning on Fourth Street.

The mayor commended the hard work and dedication of the Troy neighborhood investors and he hopes that the initiative will snowball.

“Our communities are so dependent on the neighborhoods,” Assembly member John McDonald said. “It’s not just downtown Troy — it’s throughout the city of Troy.”

“The word is out about this part of the city,” said Rocco DeFazio, an active member of the neighborhood for several years. “It seems like every year we reach another step,” he said. “We’re moving fast now and I can see it.”

DeFazio is not alone in his confidence. Michael Lopez of TAP, a Troy-based organization that provides design, architectural, planning and graphic assistance to low- and moderate-income individuals and non-profit organizations, also agreed.

“This is neighborhood revitalization at its best,” Lopez said of the Little Italy projects.